


bargaining chip

by noneislefttoprotest



Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, if you couldn't tell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29418330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noneislefttoprotest/pseuds/noneislefttoprotest
Summary: Ebb Iwatani was the girl who had (almost) everything.
Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161056
Kudos: 1





	bargaining chip

━━━✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦━━━

From the outside looking in, you could understand Ebb Iwatani as the _it_ girl who had everything. The truth was a bit more complicated.

Sure, as the youngest child of a business mogul she was afforded privileges other girls her age could only ever _dream_ of. She wouldn't even need to do the work of an heiress. She understood that. But it didn't mean she had zero problems.

Ebb remembered when her mother picked up the bottle.

(She was seven.)

She didn't remember a time when her father showed her or her brothers any unconditional love.

For most of the years _before_ , she was raised part-time by nannies anyway, and her mother, apart from the _constant_ nitpicking at her appearance, was not that bad. Her brothers did “boy stuff”. It wasn’t fair, that she was the _only_ girl and also so so so much younger than them.

(The trio later agreed that it was a blessing.)

She remembered the time she first had a crush on a girl. She remembered her oldest brother shutting himself away after his first boyfriend. She remembered a hushed conversation in their middle brother’s room, where they came clean about all of it.

Most of all, she remembered her brothers over everything else. Teaching her about things she was probably too young to know, holding her when she cried, bringing her along when she would've been left alone with their parents, treating her like Ebb, not like an Iwatani. Because they knew what it was like. To have your family name come before everything. Before _you_.

She had friends, of course, she had her girls - Sloane, Heather and Imogen, all also daughters of wealthy businessmen - but they didn’t _understand_. At the very least, they had loving parents. That wouldn’t (didn’t) kick them out if (when) it turned out they were queer. Which all three of the younger Iwatanis were. So only Fathom could talk about his hetero-presenting relationship.

In Ebb’s own words, the whole thing _sucked_ _majorly_.

Yoshi was a bright light in the middle of it all. They understood. They also had to keep their real self hidden. They also had big siblings that kept them saf _er_ . Safe enough to go out on little dates. Puppy love, she heard Dig call it. Ebb knew how to string along boys that thought they were even _close_ to being in her league. She didn’t know how to flirt with a super cute person who liked the same music as she did, who liked to wear the cutest little suspenders and made her blush whenever they held her hand. She _really_ hoped this worked out.

But until Ebb could be safe to be out and Yoshi could be safe to not be a girl, they could only be together in hidden places, with specific people, at certain times. She wondered if this was what being a spy felt like.

Dig, at least, could drive. And Hypnos - just one person on her list of role models her parents would _despise_ \- had somehow managed to worm himself into Hiroto and Tomiko’s good graces. So they had _that_ going for them.

(Hypnos’ cousin Mayumi treated her more like a daughter than her own mother did. She tried to not think too much on that, lest she ruin her makeup.)

And then there was the matter of her career. Too old to not know, as they said. Too rich to need to care. Just restless enough that dancing through life as a socialite, as her mother had been a lifetime ago, would simply not do it. But she had more social skills than any other skills. And school was a _bore._ She could get away with all B’s, and that’s what she did her whole life. Not like her parents would care anyway, as long as she didn’t fail.

(Sometimes she wanted to rebel. Fuck everything up. Test their patience. Of course she wasn’t a perfectly behaved adolescent, but something in her wanted to be _less._ Those lines of thought often ended in fear. _Once you’re free_ , she thought.)

And it wasn’t fair. Dig lived in fear, as high-strung as the ponytail he always wore. Fathom had a lot of anger in him, sometimes righteous, often not. They had to find their place in the world under the shadow of Hiroto - a ruthless businessman who commanded his company and his family with an iron fist - and Tomiko, an heiress and socialite that had the science of appearances, etiquette, and conversation down to a T.

And Ebb didn’t know what path to follow. Not the heir, not the spare. As a woman, her job was to marry and have kids. She thought that was total bullshit. So that wasn’t what she aimed for. She acted her age. She went along with the flow. And it would turn out right. She had enough stubborness in her to make it work.

Maybe she _would_ follow her mother’s path. She was good at people. But Ebb didn’t want to end up like her. Trapped at the bottom of a bottle, using its liquid to keep the Iwatani Machine working smoothly.

Until she decided, though, she had the protection of her brothers, and their partners, and their partners’ families. _That_ was her real family.

━━━✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦━━━


End file.
